the Patriot (I) Values and Rights

What traditional values of America culture do you think where depicted in movie so far? Why?

What American Bill of Rights do you think where depicted in movie so far? Why?

Give examples...

Traditional American Values:
Freedom – the movie is about American Revolutionary War in which Americans fought against the Kingdom of Great Britain for independence and freedom.

Democracy – in the movie, every man has the right to choose their religious belief and to decide if they are willing to join the army.

American Bill of Rights:
Amendment II -- A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.
The protagonist, Benjamin Martin, led a Militia to skirmish the British soldiers. It depicted the second item of Bill of Rights
Amendment III
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
At the beginning part of the movie, the wounded soldiers were taken care of by the Martins. They were permitted to stay. However, this right was hindered later by the evil British colonel.

From the movie, we can see that the father was always giving order to his son because in his eyes, his son was just a child who maybe couldn’t make judgment. However, the son regarded himself as an adult, a man over 18 years old. He tried to be independent from his father. So we can see the two men almost argued all the time about everything (of course, it’s a way showing love and care to each other). So, we can know the American culture contains such a great value as independence. When a person grows to 18 years old, he sees himself as an adult and acts as an independent person with his own ideas. These people never believe blindly in their parents, and instead they begin to raise doubt to what is authority. Nothing is always true and people should have a critical thinking. This is very different from Chinese culture. We rely on parents for many years even after we grow to adults. I believe we should learn from Americans.

According to the American Bill of Right, the second one, “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed”, we will understand why the American people can store and bear guns which is impossible in China. However, the permission also brings about a lot of problems today. Every year, a great amount of people dies of gun killing. It’s right to ensure one’s safety and freedom, but bearing guns has too many bad influnces.

First is freedom, and it's also the most important one because it's the basis of other things. self-reliance is also reflected in this movie, especially in what the father did, because he know they can't depend on the traditional fight ways so he use a different and a smart way. What he said "I’ll not fight, I'll not fight so I'll not vote to make another man to fight in his stead", also reflect his self-reliance. Individuality is also reflected in this movie. When a man said he couldn’t fight himself but his slave will fight for him instead, he insist on the slave signing the paper .

1 Individual Freedom: the background of this movie is the American Revolutionary War. On the one hand, local Americans wanted to be free from the colonial domination of Britain and be independent. On the other hand, the slaves wanted to be break away from the oppression of the British Administration. Benjamin Martin, his son and the slave were struggling for their freedom.
2 Self-reliance: In the movie, Benjamin Martin and his son have many disagreements in respect to many situations. First, Martin objected to his son joining army. But his son insisted on joining it. Second, Benjamin recruited soldiers from the bar while his son went to the church. In fact, this reflects their difference in experiencing. At the same time, it means the new generation is gradually dependent from their parents and seeks for self-reliance.

Freedom and privacy ----1 ev

Freedom and Privacy ---every one has the right to speak freely and has the right to choose join in the army or not ; free love ----BEN doesn't interfere Gabriel and Charlotte's love ; Religion freedom --- They can choose whatever they believe . The new America is the whole American's America, wherever you come from.
Diligence --- Before Ben began to join the war he and his friends working hard on the plantation and make ling for themselves.
Responsible --- As a citizen of America, Ben has the responsible to join the war battle the enemies. However , as seven children's father he has the duty to protect them.
Equality--- Ben and some black people working on the farm happily. They are equal. During the war the new government declare a note about liberate the black American.

Traditional American Values:
Freedom: Freedom is also the most important and the basic American traditional value.
The whole movie reflects American fight for their freedom.
Local Americans want to get freedom from Britain as well as get independence. At the same time, slaves want to be break away from the oppression of the British Administration. So people fight for their own freedom.
Independence (self-reliance): As for this value, I agree with Davidhuo
Benjamin Martin and his son’s action reflect this value.
The elder son has made their own decision even their father doesn’t agree.
To be a child, he can do the things which he wants to do when he is enough old and child always wants to be independent.Benjamin Martin and his son’s disagreements reflect this.

According to the American Bill of Right, the second one, “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed”.
We can easily understand why the American people can have guns. They have rights to do this. However, the permission makes lots of problems. Every year, a great amount of people dies of gun killing. Gun Control becomes a hot issue. Administers consider it seriously because government also should ensure one’s safety and freedom.

My answer to the first question is Individual Freedom and Democracy. We can see how individual freedom worked from the way that Benjiming and Gibral called on people to join the militia. Nobody forced the villages to put up a weapon. The leaders gave lecture to persuade the people to fight, making sure that their actions were based on their freedom. And the democracy was revealed in the event that those people voted to decided wether to fight or not.

As to the Bill of Rights, I think of only one of them: the constitution guarantees the right to keep bear arms. From the film, it was apparent that almost every common man could use gun, even the preacher and the little sons of the leading charactor. These men had no need to be trained before they got to the fight field, so it must be rather universal and usual to have a gun in there.

American values:
1.individual freedom. in the movie, the people has their rights to choose to join in the army or not, to choose to fight or not, to choose to vote or not. they are not forced to do anything they don't want. Gabreil wants to join in the army, his father finally agrees. he has the right to make a decision for his life.
2.independence. the people in the movie are in the oppression of the Britain colonailists. they want to fight for independence including the normal people and slaves.
3.democracy. when Gabreil went back to his hometown, he gave a lecture in the church. he didn't give force to anybody to join him. it shows the democracy. the people are willing to do things that they think are worthy.

I can see two traditional values from this movie, one is freedom, and the other is individualism.
Freedom: By freedom, Americans mean the desire and the ability of all individuals to control their own destiny. In order to achieve freedom, the people in America fought against the Kingdom of Great Britain at a great cost. Both the free men and slaves struggle for freedom and try hard to control their own lives.
Individualism: Individuals try to rely on themselves and achieve independence from others. In the movie, the son tries to take care of himself, solve his own problems, and "stand on his own two feet." He chooses his one way other than his father’s opinion.

American Bill of Rights:
Amendment II -- A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.
In the movie, thanks to the arms they have, Benjamin Martin and other people can achieve their freedom. It's hard to imagine what it will be if they didn’t have any arms.

You have already said that the movie was about freedom. So freedom is the most important. In the movie, people fought for freedom. The son of the Benjamin Martin went to the church to spread the spirit of freedom and what the girl said aroused the hope in the deep heart of people. The second is self-reliance. In the movie, Benjamin Martin saved back his son through his wisdom and action. It is a fact about self-reliance. God helps those who help themselves.

“All men are created equal under god” is one of American Bill of Rights. I noticed that in the movie the black man was shacked and confused when the he heard that he could get freedom and money after a certain period of time serving for the government. That showed black men were equal as other else, they were not slaver any more.

the traditional American values consist of freedom, equality, and individualism and so on. the patriot has fully illustrated the spirit of freedom and equality. American people fight for freedom in the independence war. in order to get rid of the colonial expoitation of england , they are not fear of sacrifice themselves，even though they do not want to lose their famliy memebers.
as for the bill of rights, it is the result of the independence war. people want to lanch their own country and write down their rights in constitution. the black people also do great contribution to the independence,but their freedom are not satisfied to some extent. maybe the movie want to tell us more about the fate of the black people, so it shows some special information of the slaves. in fact, to get freedom for black people has a long way to go.

Freedom------The theme of the two movies is the freedom, which is one of the American traditional values. They fight for the freedom of their own and their nation. They don’t want to be slaves under other country, because the life in which is very poor. They even have no human right in that circumstance. They want to be themselves not anyone else. They desire freedom, but they must fight for it.

First, it is the freedom. in the movie, the american people they fight for the freedom. they do not want to controled by the english people. this reflects the american value.
second, people are equal in the world. the american people are equal to the other people in the world. they can have their own country. in the movie, they protect their country. this reflects the value.

Traditional American values: freedom and equality
On the whole, the movie itself is all about American's fighting for freedom,equality and independence. In this movie, people are free to talk and free to choose whether to become a soldier to fight against the English. Not only the people in the church but also the people in the bar participate in fighting based on their own will. Also, people in this movie all believe everyone was born equal. For example, the black soldier will be free if he can fight for several months.

American values: chasing for freedom, equality and private properties.
In order to get political freedom, equality and private properties, the American people assembled together to fight against the English army. In the film, the English destroyed Benjamin Martin's house and Charlotte's plantation as punishment. When Benjamin and his fellows recruited in the public house, he said "Long life to the King" and the rest of people begun to be angry. All these show that freedom, equality and private properties mean a lot to Americans.
Bill of Rights: I don't know much about the Bill of Rights, but I guess the right of keeping weapons in house may be counted.

These two American values are described completely in this movie. At the beginning of the movie, Martin, as a hero, goes back home and live a peaceful and quiet life. After his wife's death, he takes the whole responsibility to take care of the 7 children. Faced with the invasion of England, he tries to avoid the war because he hate it and he never wants his children to get hurt due to the war. Even when the English army come up to his home, he tries to make compromise with them.However, his sons do not think as he does. They two want to fight for freedom and equility. When Martin's second son is shot by the English, he can never hold his anger and he is forced to fight against the English. In order to protect his first son, he has no choice but to join in the army. At the end, the death of his two sons makes him understand that making compromise can never earn peace. Besides,just as an saying goes, Heaven helps those who help themsevels. If one wants freedom and independece, he must fight for them on his own.

The movie reflects the traditional American values: individual freedom and self-reliance. In order to get rid of the England, people in America joined in the War of Independence to fight for freedom. They took weapons to depend on themselves to fight for freedom rather than to tolerate the England’s cruel rule. In the movie, the soldiers joined in the war according to their own willingness. Everyone was equal, and has the same rights, no matter they are black or white.

the patriot. i will reply the post a little latter.

Depends on the family - there are so many types of American it's a hard question. Some families think it's taking care of each other, loving each other and sticking together no matter what' some think it's honesty and obedience and service to country; some think it's being smart and doing good in the world; some have no values that I can see. It's different for every family, really, each family gets to decide what their values are - God, service to humanity, service to the planet as a whole, personal or familial survival. It's all their choice.。
For example, the heroes protected their families.